19/06/07
JPN
I put on the kettle and asked for my breakast at the reception, which came in a little plastic bag.
I checked out from the hostel, leaving my luggage in the storing room and went out to the streets of early morning Barcelona.
I decided to visit the Sagrada Familia first.
I was immensely impressed by the facade of the Temple, depicting Jesus on the cross.
I went up on the elevator and found myself standing close to the bell towers.
I was impressed by the fine details of the sculptures and engravings on the walls - the whole building looked like a piece of modern art.
I was surprised that this Temple was still so far from completion
and I thought this got to be the only consturction site in the world that attracts so many tourists.
I wonder how busy it would be once it is finished, can you imagine? or is it that the unfinished status gives so many wonder and attraction?
There are currently eight bell towers and four more is to come, all of which are going to be twice the height of the existing ones.
Currently there are no bells in the bell towers and are supplanted by a digital sound, which I heard ringing every now and then.
I wonder what kind of sound it produces when everything is completed.
But I'll be dead by then.
Gaudi took hints from the nature.
This nave looks like a forrest, with columns that branches out at the top and the ceiling looks like leaves spreading out.
Can you see this deepest sorrow?
There was a museum in the basement of the Temple which presented various sketches by Gaudi,
and the historical developement of Sagrada Familia as well as description of how Gaudi influenced the architectures around the world.
Feeling all exuberant after my entertaining visit to Sagrada Familia, I set my foot towards the south of the city.
There was a market, I bought some fish and ate it raw (yeah right).
The streets of Barcelona are so narrow.
The old part of the city centre was like a maze.
As I ran out of my films, I bought three more in a shop.
But as soon as I bought them, my SLR camera broke, yes, my precious camera suddenly died.
To observe what was wrong with my camera, I went into Starbucks, sat down, ordered a caffe latte, and tried to fix it.
Latte didn't help, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it...
This incident shocked me a lot, even more than when my laptop broke.
Damn, everything is breaking during this trip.
I was really looking forward to taking film photos in Spain, under the hot sun using low sensitive films.
Well, I'll fix it when I go back to Japan somehow.
The temperature kept rising and rising, and the air was flickering with steam from the ground.
I decided to retreat inside the musuem during the day and walked towards the west of the city.
I was sweating heavily by the time I reached this park, which is on top of a hill.
I could have a view to quite a distance from here, as Barcelona doesn't have many tall buildings.
I visited Miro's museum.
It was written that Miro visited Japan during the 1960s.
Perhaps that is why you can see some Japanese character-like objects in his drawings.
There were lots of kids running about, perhaps on their school trip.
I wanted to tell them, oh how happy you guys are being able to come to Miro's musum for a school trip.
You know, I remember climbing up a mountain and visiting a garbage collection centre for my school trip, nothing like the Miro's museum.
A painting titled 'Hope of the man condemned to death' evoked my imagination.
After Miro, I visited Mseuu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) , which was in the same park.
This museum houses many of the old masters' paintings.
Fortuny's paintings were all nice.
After visiting MNAC, I continued with my walking.
In the evening, I checked in at a youth hostel near the sea side.
I walked along the Rambla street.
I walked a lot today.